Changes
by dangerous-agent
Summary: Derek chose Addison but he can't deny his feelings for Meredith and a moment in the elevator changes everything. MerDer Set somtime in season 2. Just a little bit of fun.
1. Chapter 1

Addison stopped beside Derek as he waited for the lift, staring intently at the metal doors.

"Nice of you to wake me up this morning." She said, staring straight ahead. Derek sighed.

"Addie, I don't want to fight today, please. I had an early start I thought you'd appreciate the extra sleeping time." The lift doors opened with a bing and Derek stepped inside. "See you later Addison." He said as the doors closed. As soon as the lift started moving he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tough day?" Came a soft voice from behind him. He recognised the voice instantly and turned round to greet Meredith. "Hi."

"Hi." They smiled at each other for a moment. "So, how are you doing?"

"Better than you." Meredith replied.

"Touche." Derek replied, looking into her eyes. "But I still _look _good." Meredith smiled at this.

"Yeah, you're even wearing you're red shirt." Derek looked down, following her gaze.

"Oh, you know I didn't even notice. I just…..threw on anything." He chuckled and Meredith rolled her eyes. "Good impressions to be made…" He trailed off as he began to think just how much he wanted to kiss her. He wondered if she was thinking the same thing as him. The lift stopped suddenly and the doors opened to reveal a line of waiting people.

"My stop." Meredith said, and walked past him into the corridor, leaving him staring after her.

"Leave her alone." Cristina muttered beside him, he hadn't even seen her come in.

"I….I wasn't…." He tried to reply but she interrupted him.

"I know what you're doing and don't do it. She's finally started moving on, she's finally started to be happy again and you're going to ruin all that? You made your choice Dr Shepherd, live with it." The doors opened again and Cristina walked out leaving Derek staring after her, this time in disbelief. He looked down at his red shirt.

"Thanks for those notes Dr Yang." He called after her trying to make the conversation appears less personal. "God this shirt used to be so effective."

Cristina stood with Meredith in the intern's changing room as they both changed into their scrubs.

"So, how are you and Burke?" Meredith asked, tying a knot in the elastic on her trousers.

"Oh, you know……its me and Burke."

"Do you ever call him by his name?" Meredith asked, laughing slightly. Cristina looked at her with a deadpan expression on her face.

"His name is Burke. As soon as I start calling him Preston he'll want to get married or something. It's a no go area." Cristina replied. "Plus, Preston? I mean….I just don't even want to think about his family issues to give him a name like that."

"I kinda like it….Preston, Preston…it has a nice ring to it don't you think. It's kinda great." Meredith answered, testing the name out. Cristina sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Well then you go out with him."

"I don't want to go out with him."

"Then stop liking his name." Cristina said. Meredith smiled and nodded. "Come on there are surgeries to do, stop wasting time.

"I'm not wasting time. I'm thinking and taking my time, enjoying my life."

"Whatever, enjoy your life at home. Lets go." Cristina countered. Meredith admitted defeated and followed Cristina into the hall. "I have a good feeling today – its like I can sense the blood. There's gonna be some surgeries for me today."

"You're verging on twisted you realise that."

"Oh I'm just a good surgeon, stop clouding me with your jealously." Meredith snorted at this.  
"Eww." Izzie appeared beside Meredith, directing her comment at her. "Who's jealous. Jealously is fun, it leads to arguments and those are also good entertainment."

"Talking about your love of porn again Stevens." Alex said, joining the group as they walked down the hallway.

"Why are you walking with us?" Cristina asked, staring at him incredulously.

"I got rounds just like you Yang." He replied. "But seriously, were you talking about porn?" The girls all chuckled and rolled their eyes.

"You're unbelievable Alex." Izzie stated. Both Cristina and Meredith gave each other looks at her choice of words and then looked up at Alex just as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Why thank you Izzie. I've been told that several times before." He grinned. The group stopped beside Bailey who was already with George going over the patient files from the night before.

"Yang and Karev you're in the pit today – Yang don't even try and argue with me on this one. Pit now." Cristina had been about to open her mouth but shut it again quickly. She gave one last pleading look at Meredith and then followed Alex. "Stevens you're wanted for a consult with Dr Shepherd, Addison. Why are you still here? GO!" Izzie rushed off in the direction they had just walked from. "Grey, uh….you're wanted by the other Dr Shepherd, he's got a PVS case needs looking at." At this Meredith nodded and rushed off. "That leaves you and me O'Malley. I want you to run labs on Mr Hartford, he's post-op 2 days complaining of a pain in his lower chest and his temp spiked last night to 102 so there's something wrong. After that write up my post-op notes from yesterday and then you'll find me and I'll tell you what to do. Scram." George ran off quickly, although he quickly realised he was running in the wrong direction. He ran back past Dr Bailey who stared at him as if he were mad.

Meredith approached Derek in the corridor. He was flicking through a file in his hands and shaking his head as he read it.

"You wanted me for a consult?" She asked, standing beside. He looked up.

"Hi. Yeah I did. A guy came in complaining of head pains, says he had them for over a year now. MRI showed a huge tumour on his brain stem. It should have put him into a coma but he's still retaining all bodily functions. Its got to come out though, if this thing gets any bigger he's going to die, but he's going to lose all ability to think, move, do anything before that happens." He said.

"So we're just going to operate now? Have you talked to the family?"

"The family are happy to go ahead with the procedure. I'm going to do some more tests and make sure this won't damage his brain even more. I need you to get some labs done for me."

"Labs." Meredith nodded, disappointed that was all she was being made to do. Derek smirked at her.

"Don't worry, you'll scrub in on the surgery." He told her. Meredith perked up at this.

"Labs it is then." She grinned and walked away, leaving Derek staring after her yet again. He couldn't understand how she found this so easy. To be apart; it was killing Derek on the inside but he knew he should do the right thing, he'd been married to Addison for as long as he could remember, if he didn't try to work it out he'd be just as bad as her. He knew that at first it was hard for Meredith, but he didn't know when the transition to easy had come. He couldn't expect her to be miserable all the time but every time she spoke to him she seemed happy.

"Derek?" A voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw Addison standing over him looking concerned. She followed his gaze and saw an corridor bustling with activity. "Everything alright?"

"Oh..yeah I was just thinking about things." Addison looked down at this, she knew from his tone of voice that he was thinking about Meredith.

"So, I was wondering, there's this really nice restaurant that Preston told me about. I checked it out yesterday and…..you know there's probably nice food….so.."

"Addison are you asking me out on a date?" Derek chuckled.

"Uh….yeh?" She replied unsure about whether if she admitted it would be a date he would say no.

"I would love to." He said, kissing her on the cheek. "Pick you up at 7? You still live in that trailer in the middle of the field right?" He laughed and she joined in, glad that things seemed to be moving on with them finally.

"That's right. The one where some guy keeps bringing trout into, you can smell it for a mile so you won't miss it." They were both laughing as Meredith watched from the stairs. She couldn't believe it had been so easy for him to move on, especially to go back with a wife that cheated on him. The sight of them being happy together made her even more determined not to let Derek see that the situation was upsetting her. She skipped down the steps and made her way towards the couple who were still laughing with each other and making jokes. She stopped almost between them.

"Hi." She said cheerfully. Derek bowed his head and stopped laughing immediately. Addison merely raised her eyebrows. "Dr Shepherd, I was just wondering whether you wanted me to get an MRI done whilst I was at it."

"Oh right…uh yeah that would be good. Call down and let them know we're coming." Derek replied, his voice strained. He always felt uncomfortable when Meredith and Addison were around each other. He thought Meredith was going to leave but instead she moved further between the pair, and leant over the desk that they were standing near, grabbing the phone and dialling a number. Because she was leaning over, it meant that her bum was sticking out, right between Derek and Addison. Derek kept glancing down until Addison interrupted.

"Well, I've got somewhere to be. I'll see you tonight Derek." She was going to lean in for a kiss but Meredith's bum was in the way. She nodded and walked off.

"What are you doing?" Derek asked when he was sure Addison was out of earshot. Meredith hung up the phone and turned to face him.

"I'm sorry?" She replied, a confused expression on her face.

"Are you trying to be difficult or does it just come naturally?" His tone was mildly angry.

"I was calling MRI like you asked. I didn't…….what did I do?" She was genuinely confused about what she had done.

"You just……I mean…..do you want to punish me?" Meredith was silent at this, she didn't understand at all where this was coming.

"Derek I don't……I don't know what you mean?" She paused whilst Derek laughed in disbelief. "Punish you? How am I punishing you?" Derek was silent for a moment as he thought about whether or not he should say this. He shook his head.

"Never mind." He replied and walked away. Meredith stared after his in confusion and shock.

"Hang on, wait!" She ran after Derek and grabbed him by the arm. He turned to face her, his expression blank. "What is going on Derek?" She let go of his arm waiting for her to reply. He just shook his head refusing to speak. They stood there for a moment, staring into each other's eyes, both trying to work out what the other was feeling.

"Fine." Meredith said and walked off, not looking back, leaving Derek standing staring at the floor, cursing himself for being an idiot.

598325.doc17/03/07 06:20hrs Imo Wilson (L) L6


	2. Chapter 2

Cristina was standing over a young boy, stitching a small gash in his forehead.

"I didn't mean to do it, I mean, the kid he was just like beating up this other kid so I just thought well bullying sucks and so I tried to stop it and then they turned on me but at least I got the other kid out right?" The boy said, smiling, pleased with himself.

"What are you a saint or something?" Cristina replied, in her usual tone. The boy looked take aback at this but just carried on.

"No, my mom taught me that you should love your neighbour and I mean I've never seen that kid before but I guess as he was in our neighbourhood he was from there so that makes him my neighbour so I had to help him. I didn't think they'd really stuff me in a trash can."

"Yeah well boys are mean, and you're going to turn into one of them sooner or later so lap up the glory whilst you can." Cristina said, finishing up the sutures.

"You're not a very nice person you know that?" The boy said, looking at her.

"No, well, I don't make it a priority of mine to be nice to little boys." At this Meredith appeared beside Cristina, and hovered for a while. "What do you want Meredith. You're hovering, lurking, and annoying me." The little boy laughed at this but Cristina shot him an angry look.

"Can I swap with you?" Meredith asked.

"You WANT to be in the pit for the whole day? God, what happened?" She asked, knowing that no one in their right mind would actually want to work in the pit.

"Oh it's a long story but I really want to be here today." Meredith said, trying to cover up the truth.

"Ok, well what are you working on today?" Cristina pulled the gloves off her hands, throwing away the medical equipment she had just used on the boy.

"Neuro consult with McDreamy. PVS case that's not actually PVS. Definite surgery involved."

"Oooh I'll take it." Cristina said, pleased with herself. She turned to the little boy. "You're done. Scram." The boy got off the table and walked away to where his mother was waiting. Meredith was about to walk away to put on a yellow gown but was stopped by Cristina.

"What happened with McDreamy to make you want to give up the case?" She asked. Meredith shrugged in reply.

"Nothing." Then she walked away, leaving Cristina smirking behind her.

"You're calling him McDreamy again." She shouted across the room. Scowling at the people now staring at her she jogged from the room to find Derek. She found him sitting in a room looking over a computer screen that was displaying an image of a brain.

"Dr Shepherd?" Derek looked up as he heard his name being called. He looked a little confused to see Cristina there.

"Yeah?" He sounded tired and his voice was distant. Cristina began wondering exactly what had happened between him and Meredith earlier.

"I'm on the case now. Meredith, she ah…she had to be called down to the pit for something so I was sent to deal with the case with you." She explained, covering for the fact that Meredith had actually asked to switch.

"I wasn't informed of any changes. Is there any chance she'll be back sometime soon? Or is this permanent.?" Derek asked, already suspicious of the reasons for the swap.

"Oh yeah it was really sudden, there wasn't any time for anyone to come and tell you. And I think she might be backed up all day." Cristina replied.

"What needs doing in the pit that can't be done by another intern. I specifically requested Dr Grey on this case."

"I understand that sir, but I am literally doing what I'm told so…I'm sorry but I'm on this case now." Derek sighed as he realised that he just had to accept that he wouldn't be able to talk to Meredith again today.

"Ok, well Dr Grey had processed some labs which need collecting so I'd appreciate it if you could see to that." He said, and then turned back to the computer screen.

Meredith was strolling along the corridor, when suddenly someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into a dark room which turned out to be a store cupboard.

"What the …..?" Meredith started but then the light was turned on and she saw Derek standing in front of her looking very tired and upset. "Are you alright?" She asked, taking a step closer towards him. He countered by taking one step back. At this Meredith put her hands up as if to admit defeat. "Ok what is going on Derek?" She asked, getting more and more angry that he was acting so oddly.

There was silence and the suddenly he took two steps forward so he was right up close to her, and pulled her into his kiss. The kiss was passionate and slow, like it wasn't just like a quick guilty kiss, and it felt so right. Meredith suddenly felt as if none of the past months had ever happened, she hadn't found out about Derek's wife and he hadn't broke up with her for his wife. In that moment, nothing mattered but her and Derek and then suddenly it all came flooding back to her and she pulled away.

"I can't." She muttered, refusing to meet his eyes. Derek was still standing close to her, and hearing her words cupped her face in his hands. "Derek…." He took a step back from her and then she raised her eyes to his. He still looked upset, and slightly shocked at what he had just done.

"I'm sorry….I just….I miss you." He sighed.

"Don't do this – I'm finally moving on, I'm finally learning to be happy again and now you've knocked me back into square one. Do you how selfish you are?" Meredith half shouted at him but checked her tone when she realised that people in the corridor might hear them.

"Well, I'm not moving on, and I'm definitely not happy. I'm trying to do the right thing here, to be the good guy but I'm not happy, and I have to see you everyday." He shouted the first bit back at her and then carried on in a much quieter tone. "I've been talking to Addison about moving back to New York." There was silence, and Meredith found that she couldn't speak.

"Why?" She managed although her voice was barely a whisper.

"It'll be easier, on everyone." She knew that he was going to leave because of her, she was going to cause a guy to leave a whole city, a whole state. Meredith was suddenly vulnerable, she could argue with Derek when she knew that there would always be another day when she would see him, he wasn't completely gone from her life just yet but she knew that she wouldn't cope when he did go.

"Derek…….I'm not ready….I'm not……you can't go I'm not ready for that." She spoke, her voice faltering. He had finally gotten through to her.

"Meredith….." He took another step towards her, reaching out for her but she shied away from him.  
"What about everything you just said? About not being happy? You think you'll be happy in New York?" This time is was Meredith who instigated the kiss, and it was more desperate this time, as if neither wanted it to end and as if by her kissing him he wouldn't want to leave. When they eventually broke apart Meredith had tears in her eyes. Derek tried to brush them away but Meredith once again pulled away from his touch. Then suddenly she left the room. Derek started after her, letting the door to the store cupboard slam shut behind him. He called out her name, not caring about the hospital staff and patients that surrounded him. HE was running now to catch up with her and when he rounded another he walked straight into Addison.

"Whoa. You alright?" She asked. Derek was forced to stop, but tried to glance over her shoulder and saw Meredith heading for the elevators. He had lost her now and he didn't know whether she'd ever talk to him again. "Derek? Earth to Derek do you copy?"

"What? Yes."

"So, I asked you if you were alright, you like a bit weird like you've just seen a ghost." Addison said, smirking at him obviously amused at his appearance and mood.

"Oh yeah….no..i just, I'm not feeling too good." He explained, he had no problem lying. Addison took a step closer to him.

"Aww, you want me to do anything?" She asked, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. Derek felt insanely guilty at that moment, he had just kissed Meredith and now he was acting as if everything was fine with his wife.

"No, I think I'm just going to get my case down and try and get some sleep. I should be fine – plus I'm in a hospital whats the worst that could happen?" He tried to smile but he knew it wasn't genuine. How had everything gone so wrong? He gave Addison a peck on the cheek and then walked off in the direction he had seen Meredith going.

George found Meredith sitting in the corner of the interns changing room, her head in her arms, sobbing quietly to herself. He approached cautiously, knowing from previous experience that emotional women didn't really work well with him.

"Mer? Are you alright?" He asked soflty, getting ever closer to her. She didn't bother looking up but mumbled something in reply that sounded like yes. "Is it alright if I sit with you." She shook her head wildly in her arms and so George stopped where he was.

"Why does all the bad stuff happen to me George?" She called out through her tears as George was getting ready to leave again as he wasn't getting very far with helping Meredith. He turned again to face her and saw that her face was red and she'd obviously been crying for some time. He thought about how to reply and thought that sympathy wasn't really what she was looking for right now, she needed to be cheered up.

"Because we're interns, and so everything that ever goes wrong in Seattle gets dumped on us because we're interns, grunts, bottom of the surgical food chain." He grinned at her and was pleased to see the corners of her mouth lift up into a smile.

"Those are Bailey's exact words. Do you know how scary that is George?" She laughed through the tears as George sat down next to her.

"Yeah bet you didn't know you were living with a stalker did you?" He did his best impression of an evil laugh.

"Now your moving away from funny and bordering on creepy." Meredith stated, smiling. She had stopped crying now and so George decided not to ask her what it had all been about in case it made her cry again.

"Ready to face to world again?" He asked and Meredith nodded, taking his hand and allowing him to pull her up. "Oh, before I forget I was meant to tell you that you're needed up with Dr Shepherd, Bailey's orders not mine!' He put his hands up to surrender. Meredith just sighed and nodded, resigned to the fact that she would have to see him again.

"Where is he?" She asked, straightening her scrubs and making sure she didn't look like she'd been crying.

"Oh no, I meant the other one, the wife." George replied. He didn't realise that the reason Meredith had been crying was because of Derek, how could he? She swallowed hard.

"Right, so where is she?"

"23 41" George said and turned to see if she was following him out of the room which she was.

Meredith climbed the stairs, carrying the patients file with her. They were dealing with a woman with twins one of whom had a large tumour to the right of the eye, and the other had a large hole in the aorta. On any normal day Meredith would have been excited about getting such a good case but she knew that the conditions of the babies meant that not only did she have to work with Addison but also Derek, in the same room. She took a deep breath as she entered the room and stopped short to discover that Derek was already in there, and talking to Addison and the patient about the babies' condition. Derek looked up as she walked in and looked equally shocked.

"Ah there she is." Addison said, smiling at Meredith who was still standing holding the file looking absolutely terrified of the situation she was in. Addison noticed the expression on her face and whispered into her ear. "Are you alright?" Meredith forced a small smile and nodded.

"Yeah absolutely, excited about the case." She tried to offer an excuse but Addison could tell that something was wrong.

"What is wrong with everyone today?" She addressed the whole room, which Meredith discovered also included Cristina who had been standing in the corner on the far side of the room, checking the stats of the patient. She looked at Meredith as if to say 'what is going on with you' but Meredith just shook her head in reply. She glanced up at Derek who was staring at her. Meredith thought she could see an apology in his eyes. She took a step closer to the bed and handed the chart to Addison who was talking the patient through the procedure.

"We're going to deliver the first baby through a C-section, Dr Shepherd here will then get straight to operating on that baby as the tumour is not life threatening but pretty serious. Then we'll half deliver the second baby and operate on the heart problem and then cut the umbilical cord and you will have two healthy babies." The woman smiled at Addison's words. The red haired doctor turned to her. "Can you prep her for surgery Dr Grey, we're using OR2 today but I'll page you when we're ready." With that she walked out. Derek didn't follow her but was instead standing in the room still, going through a file. Cristina had been observing the behaviour between Derek and Meredith and took this opportunity to talk to her about it. She got close to her so she could whisper as Meredith did all the necessary procedures to prep for surgery.

"What is going on with you and McDreamy?" She whispered urgently, whilst pretending to go through the file that was at the end of the patients bed.

"Nothing, why would there be?" The other doctor replied, nervously trying to carry on with what she was doing. She glanced up at Derek but saw that he wasn't paying attention to their conversation. She found herself imagining crossing the room and kissing him, and her mind wandered onto other things. She shook her thoughts from her head and carried on.

"Oh come on, there is so something going on. I am not blind. What's the deal." Meredith stopped what she was doing and turned to face Cristina.

"Nothing. Just…..drop it." Meredith slammed the file down on the table and left the room. Derek looked up at this, watching her leave and then looking around and catching Cristina's eye who gave him a suspicious look. Then he went back to his notes, not wanting Cristina to suspect anything. Moments later he spoke.

"Uh, Dr Yang can you please stay with the patient make sure she has anything she needs, surgery will be in a bit, you can scrub in." Cristina grinned at this.

"Thank you so much Dr Shepherd." She said, pleased she was getting a surgery. The smile vanished from her face when he walked out of the room. She knew something was going on but Meredith was not telling her.

Meredith was standing at the nurses station on the phone, appearing to be making sure that OR2 was ready for the patient they were working on. She glanced up as he approached and smiled slightly, she had made her mind up about what to do.

"We need to talk." Derek said, without waiting for her to finish on the phone. She hung up and turned to face him.

"Yeah we do." She replied, looking down at the floor. "Where?" Derek motioned for her to follow him which she did. She chuckled slightly when he stopped in front of the elevator. He turned and grinned at her and she smiled back. The elevator – she should have guessed. The doors opened with a loud bing! And the people who had been in it walked out into the corridor. Derek walked in, followed by Meredith who was still smiling. They were the only ones in there as the doors closed, leaving them shut off from the rest of the world. Derek reached out and pulled the emergency stop button as Bailey had done twice to him now. Meredith hadn't been expecting this.

"What are you doing?" She asked, looking around the empty elevator.

"Talking." Derek replied, turning to face her. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds before both heading straight for each other. Their lips met in a passionate embrace and Derek's hands were soon wandering down Meredith's body. They both knew what this meant but they ignored the questions and just carried on. Meredith pushed the white coat off Derek's shoulders and let it fall to the ground at his feet. Her hands wandered down his chest where she began working at the buttons of his shirt. He was also working on her clothes, carefully levering the top of her scrubs over her head. Meredith was faintly aware of the trouser bottoms of her scrubs being discarded on one side of the elevator, as he hands worked at Derek's belt buckle. His trousers soon joined the pile of clothes that was now littered over the floor of the elevator.

"This isn't talking." Meredith breathed between kissing as Derek slowly picked her up, backing her into one of the elevator walls. The metal rail that ran along the edge was cold against her bare skin and she flinched, causing Derek to pull away.

"You alright?" He asked, concerned.

"Yeah cold." She replied breathlessly. "Don't stop." Derek grinned and their kissing quickly resumed.

598325.doc17/03/07 06:31hrs Imo Wilson (L) L6


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, here's another update. Thanks so much for the reviews, they are so good! Especially in the first day of posting. I'm thinking about adding a bit of Addisex to this as its another of my favourite ships and there'll be some more of the rest of the characters but I just had to get some good old MerDer in there first. And of course the MerDer will continue strong throughout. I have a tendency never to finish things so this could go on for a while!! Haha.

Thanks again.  
da

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"O'Malley! Where in the hell is Meredith Grey?" Bailey's voice shouted from one end of the corridor. George spun around to face her, terror plastered on his face. Bailey was evidently in a bad mood and now he was in her line of fire, a position he never wanted to be in.

"Uh, I sent her up to work with Dr Montgomery Shepherd, like you said. I saw her go up there myself." He stammered.

"And I'm supposed to believe the word of an intern, and more importantly her friend?" She glared at him.

"Yes ma'am I would never lie to you ma'am." George replied. Bailey waved her hands at him to stop him speaking.

"Where is she now then? She is not with Dr Montgomery Shepherd and she is certainly not with Dr Shepherd which is where I sent her in the first place but apparently that task was too great for her and so she switched herself to the pit and now, she isn't even there. So you O'Malley can go sort out the pit right after you tell me where in the hell Meredith Grey is!"

"I really do not know." George mumbled, trying to escape Bailey.

"Well you better find her before I do because that stupid girl is going to have some explaining to do." And with that Bailey left George in the middle of the corridor, who was silently mouthing words long after she had gone. He spun around and charged down the corridor towards the lifts, telling himself that he would find Meredith before Bailey did. He pressed the button to call the lift and waited for a while. It was a couple of minutes before George realised that the lift just wasn't going to come. He looked up and saw that half of the number 3 and half of the number 2 was lit up, and that meant the lift was stuck somewhere between floors 2 and 3. Why was no one making any attempt to get the lift moving again. He was tempted to go and ring the maintenance men but then remembered that he was meant to be finding Meredith. He hesitated before the lift and then moved towards the stairs, taking them two at a time.

Meredith pulled the shirt of her scrubs over her head, pulling it down and smoothing it out.

"What if someone realised the lift is not moving. Will they have sent someone to fix it. Get dressed quickly, what if someone comes?" Meredith said, terrified that the lift doors would suddenly open and a crowd of people would see her and Derek, half naked.

"Calm down." Derek said, zipping his trousers up and buckling his belt again. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to soothe her.

"I can't calm down. Oh God, what have I done? I'm the dirty mistress for real this time." She complained, frantically combing her hair with her fingers.

"Meredith." Derek urged, trying to make her stop moving around. "Meredith." She stopped this time, and looked at him with an exasperated expression but one filled with worry and confusion as well. "You're not a dirty mistress. Stop worrying about everything, it will all be ok. I will make it ok." He smiled at her, a smile that melted her. She rested her forehead on his and sighed.

"Ok." She replied quietly. Derek moved away from her, and continued putting on his clothes. When they were both dressed again, Derek turned to face her, his eyes exploring her face. He gave her a quick kiss and then pressed the emergency stop button and the lift shuddered to a start again. They didn't have long to wait until the lift stopped on the next floor. There was a loud ping as the doors opened to reveal Addison standing there with a group of other nurses and doctors around her. She looked surprised to see Meredith and Derek in the lift but showed no signs of suspicion. Meredith's breath caught in her throat as she stepped forward to get off the lift, brushing past Addison.

"Hey, Meredith are you alright?" Addison asked her as the intern walked slowly by, not daring to breathe. Meredith yet out a little yelp, surprised at being addressed and convinced that the other woman knew what had just happened between Derek and her.

"Oh, I'm fine, it's a long day, hectic, but nothing else has happened. Nothing odd, everything good…..yeah." Meredith replied, stammering her reply. Addison raised an eyebrow as Meredith hurried off, and then turned and walked into the lift where Derek was standing, leaning almost too casually against the wall. His hair was messy, not it usual slicked back self. He looked flustered as well.

"Hey, did you get stuck in the lift?" Addison asked, leaning next to him as they waited for other people to file into the elevator. Derek stiffened at her words.

"What?"

"The lift was stuck, were you in it, with Meredith?" She asked. Thoughts were racing through Derek's head, did Addison know? She couldn't have done.

"Oh yeah, don't know what happened. It started up again though." He shrugged as he said this, He stared at the lift doors silently begging them to open to he could get away from Addison. He hadn't meant for any of this to happen. He wished everything was still back when he and Addison were together, before she had cheated on him with Mark. But that would mean he had never met Meredith and despite everything that had happened between them he was still glad he had met her that day in the bar. He wished he could have both lives, the one he lead when he was married to Addison, and the one he had led with Meredith. But he knew he couldn't have both, he knew he had to choose and that decision would hurt someone. The doors pulled open slowly and Derek quickly made his way out of the elevator, not looking back at Addison who he knew he was leaving in a complete state of confusion. How had everything gotten so complicated? He hadn't gotten very far down the corridor when Bailey stopped him.

"Where the hell is Meredith Grey?" She asked him. Derek spluttered loudly, convinced that she must know what had happened between him and Meredith.

"I uh…..she was ……I don't know. Why do you assume that I know?" He added the last part defensively, almost shouting back at her.

"Alright, its just I know she was working with you earlier and she's been missing for half an hour and no one has seen her. The last person anyone saw her with was you." Bailey replied, getting slightly suspicious of his behaviour. Derek cursed himself under his breath. This was stupid, he had to pick before everything spiralled out of control and the whole hospital knew about the elevator.

"She's uh….she's on the 2nd floor. I think she went to find you. Sorry, but I've got a case." He muttered his excuse and left quickly, leaving Bailey looking after him shaking her head slightly. She had a faint idea she knew where Meredith had been for the past half hour.

"Stupid girl." She muttered disapprovingly under her breath as she turned towards the elevator.

Bailey found Meredith flicking through a patient's chart at the nurses station on the 2nd floor, exactly where Derek had said she would be.

"Dr Grey! Where on God's green earth have you been for the past half hour, cos you sure weren't on the case I assigned you, or even the one you assigned yourself. So exactly what have you been doing?" Bailey pulled the chart from her hands. "Who's chart is this? I put you on neuro with Dr Shepherd this morning…"

"Cristina's on that with him and you moved me to the other Dr Shepherd.." Meredith interrupted me. Bailey's eyes widened in anger at being interrupted.

"Oh no….you do not interrupt me. You go and tell Cristina she is back in the pit right now, and you get your butt to Shepherd right now!" Bailey almost yelled at Meredith who was looking borderline terrified.

"Ok, but…"

"No buts just do it." Bailey said shaking her head. As Meredith was walking past she grabbed her arm, pulling her back so she was level with her. "And whatever you're doing with Dr Shepherd you better think long and hard about it, the man is married." At that she walked away leaving Meredith staring in disbelief after her. Bailey knew. That was probably the worst thing that could happen to her right now.

598325.doc18/03/07 07:04hrs Imo Wilson (L) L6


	4. Chapter 4

Ok so I physically don't know how to do short updates!! I feel like I have to include all these bits to make it a bit more flow-y…..otherwise its kind of like stop and start etc etc so sorry if the chapters are really bloody long but…hey!! I can't help it!!

Thanks again for all the awesome reviews – I started writing this ages ago because to be honest being at a boarding school is possibly the most boring thing on earth and so why not write fanfic? Plus, I'm going in a downward spiral of grey's addiction so had to write this in between episodes!! Haha. Enough about me. The next chapter is up so, have fun! Thanks again!

da

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Cristina and Meredith walked into Joes and made their way straight for the bar. Izzie and George were already there, each holding a beer and laughing as they talked. Meredith took a seat on the corner of the bar and Cristina sat next to her, and Meredith noted that's she was extremely close to her.

"What are you doing?" She asked Cristina who was now, leaning into Meredith and staring at her.

"Something's different…." She said, examining Meredith's face closely.

"What? No its not." The other intern replied.

"Oh, what did you do?" Cristina asked in a playful tone.

"Nothing, I did work. I worked. I have a job so I did my job." She tried desperately to cover up her secret but she couldn't hide much from Cristina.

"Oh you are so lying." But she didn't go any further and left it at that for which Meredith was grateful.

"Tequila please, Joe." Joe grabbed a bottle from just under the bar and placed a shot glass in front of Meredith, filling it to almost the top. The intern picked it up gently and threw the contents into her mouth, grimacing as the liquid burned its way down her throat.

"Tequila? Seriously? It's Dr McDreamy isn't it." Meredith remained silent. "Oh my god you did the McNasty with Dr McDreamy?" At this Izzie and George both looked up.

"What?" They both said in unison, loudly. Meredith shot Cristina a look as if to say 'now look what you've done'.

"You had sex with Dr Shepherd…. again?" Izzie asked, leaning closer to hear her friends reply.

"No…..you don't know that." Her friends looked at her incredulously. "Stop looking at me."

"Oh come on tequila is what you drink when you're having McDreamy problems."

"I'm leaving." Meredith stated, grabbing her coat and hopping off the stool. "I have much more important things I could be doing than listen to you discuss me."

"We can't discuss you without details. Give us details." George grinned. Meredith hit him lightly on the arm.

"There are no details because there was no sex." She turned and walked out of the bar without a backward glance at her friends. They watched her go and as soon as she had disappeared through the doors they all burst into laughter.

"There are so details." Izzie giggled, taking a sip of her beer.

"Do you think she really slept with Shepherd?" George asked, glancing again towards the door where Derek had appeared and was walking towards the interns. He stopped by Cristina and looked at the group who were all looking at him expectantly.

"Have any of you seen Meredith?" Derek asked. The group all looked at each other with knowing looks.

"Uh, she actually just left like 2 minutes ago. Surprised you didn't see her." Cristina answered. Izzie tried to stifle a laugh at this.   
"Ok thanks." Derek gave them a short smile and left the bar, in search of Meredith. Once again there was laughter.

"Does that answer you're question, George?" Izzie laughed. George shook his head.

"She wouldn't have done surely, he's married!"

"Are you forgetting that he was married the first time she had sex with him?" Cristina reminded him.

"Oh." George gulped down his beer and set it back on the bar. "Yeah."

"What do you think will happen with the McMarrieds?" Izzie asked, she was starting to feel a little sorry for Addison.

"Depends on if she finds out about it, then she's probably staring into the cold eyes of divorce. Or she won't find out about it." Cristina replied. The group carried on drinking in silence.

Meredith fell forwards onto her bed and lay there contemplating the days events. So much had happened, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it all. She loved Derek, she couldn't deny that to herself after so long but she Derek was married and Addison didn't deserve that kind of treatment. She didn't even know where she stood with Derek now, she didn't know whether it had been a one-time 'we miss each other' thing, or whether anything would come out of it. She had barely spoken to him all afternoon, avoiding his stare and trying hard not to be alone in the same room as him. She didn't want to be the person who broke a marriage up but a the same time she knew that if she was around Derek, alone, again she wouldn't be able to control herself, literally. She had to make sure that he knew she wouldn't do this, she wouldn't be the dirty mistress, she had to call him. Sitting up she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone. She was flicking through her phonebook when the doorbell rang. Sighing she got off the bed and padded towards the stairs, skipping down them. It was probably Izzie or George, or both of them, drunk and they'd forgotten their keys or something. She pulled the door open almost without looking, figuring it could only be her housemates.

"Hi." Came Derek's voice from the doorway. Meredith glanced upwards her eyes wide.

_Oh God. _She thought to herself as she took in his appearance. Before Meredith could even formulate a sentence in reply Derek was speaking again.  
"We need to talk." Meredith chuckled slightly at this.

"Last time you said that we ended up in an elevator, definitely NOT talking." She replied, recalling the time in the elevator. Derek smiled and she could tell he was thinking about it too.

"No, seriously though." Derek said. Meredith nodded as if to say ok go ahead and gestured for Derek to come into the house properly. "This can't work. I can't be the guy who has a wife and a girlfriend, and I definitely can't be that guy when they both work at the same hospital." Meredith dipped her head slightly. She had been about to do the same thing but still, it hurt nonetheless. This was now the second time Derek had broken up with her for his wife.

"I was about to call you and say the same thing." Meredith said before he could continue. At least this time she could control how they broke up.

"Really? Uh….what were you going to say?" Derek seemed a little bit taken aback by her words, and started to look a bit anxious.

"I was going to say that I can't be the woman who messes up a marriage….. I was going to say that we should just leave it at that, forget about today you know. You and Addison are married….."

"My marriage has been over for a long time Meredith." Derek interrupted. "I just haven't admitted it to myself. I can't live a lie, I can't carry on a relationship with someone I don't love."

"What?" Was all Meredith could manage. Her words caught in her throat.

"I don't love Addison. I used to, and I wanted to try to make that work because she was my family for so many years but I couldn't Meredith, I couldn't when I love you so much." Meredith stood there numbly; she didn't know what to say.

"I thought you came here to break up with me." Meredith managed after a while, but her voice was barely above a whisper.  
"I talked to Addison this afternoon. It's over – we filed for divorce an hour ago." There was silence as both Meredith and Derek realised what a huge thing this was.

"OK." Meredith said, unsure of what else she could say. Derek frowned a bit at this, he had expected more of a happy reaction but that wasn't what he got. "I don't know what to say." She added almost as if she was reading his thought. Derek sighed.

"Well, will you go out with me?" Derek asked, grinning broadly. Meredith thought about it, breathed deeply and looked him in the eyes.

"No." She replied firmly.

"What? Did you not hear what I just said to you?" Derek was stunned by her response. He'd just effectively poured his heart out to her.

"I heard you, Derek. You're getting a divorce, you picked me, that's great it really is, but you're not divorced yet, and until you are there is no us. We'll carry on like we have been until you're single again."

"So…. we can have sex in the elevator again?" Derek laughed.

"No, no kissing, no…touching and definitely no sex." Meredith responded playfully. Derek went over the deal in his mind.  
"Fine." He took a step closer to her, a cheeky smile forming on his face. "But…its been a hard day for me, and all that honesty a second a go really took it out of me, I think I should be allowed…one kiss?" He gave her the puppy dog eyes which she couldn't resist. She sighed and nodded her consent as Derek leaned in. Her lips parted as they met his and his tongue moved swiftly in. The kiss was intense and passionate but Meredith broke it off first. She took a moment to catch her breath before meeting Derek's gaze.

"Ok, I'm going to bed." She moved towards the stairs and stopped when she realised Derek was following her.

"Oh, …..oh you meant alone." Derek said in realization. Meredith laughed lightly and nodded. "Right, well then I'll just get going. I'll see you tomorrow." A huge grin was plastered over his face as Meredith leaned down a kissed him lightly on his lips, putting a hand on his chest to keep her balance as she was a step above him. She watched as Derek turned and walked out of the house, glancing back at Meredith with each step he took.

Meredith was sitting on the couch watching ER when her friends returned from the bar.

"Hey, look what the cat dragged in." Meredith said, noticing Cristina had entered with Izzie and George. "Not spending time with Preston?" Cristina gave her a hard stare.

"Men." She said, flopping down into the couch next to Meredith.

"Yeah, men." Her best friend agreed.

"So, McDreamy find you?" Cristina asked, grabbing Meredith's beer off the coaster and taking a long swig.

"How do you know he was looking for me?" Cristina laughed sarcastically.

"When are you going to understand that I know everything." At this Izzie walked in and sat down in the armchair.

"McDreamy was here? How was the sex?" Izzie said, taking a bite out of an apple and then grimacing and throwing the apple into the bin.

"There was no sex. We talked. About things other than sex." Meredith tried to explain but both Izzie and Cristina were having none of it.

"McDreamy was in this house, you were both alone and you didn't have sex?" The blonde laughed, in the process of peeling a banana, which she hoped tasted better than the apple she had just eaten.

"THERE WAS NO SEX." Meredith almost screamed at them. The room was silent for a while before everyone laughed. "He's getting divorced." Cristina and Izzie exchanged wide eyed expressions.

"Oh." Was all Izzie could think of to say. "So that's good."

"You did have sex didn't you?" Cristina screeched. Meredith couldn't keep up a guard against both of them for much longer.

"When?" She said finally, essentially admitting it. "There was no sex in this house. But….in the elevator." At this point George had also entered the room to hear the last sentence.

"So when Bailey was on the warpath at ME for you being missing, you were having sex in an elevator." He asked incredulously. Meredith nodded her head.

"Wow, you really are a dirty mistress." Cristina laughed, taking another swig of Meredith's beer. "So, was it good?" Izzie asked, taking a bite of her apple and winking at her friend. George spluttered as he heard this.

"I don't want to know about your sex." George said before Meredith could answer. "In fact, I want to watch ER." He said, focusing on the TV and attempting to change the subject. Izzie and Cristina exchanged knowing looks; George still had a thing for Meredith.

"Why are you watching ER? It's just a bunch of actors trying to be doctors. I bet they don't even know what they're saying half the time. And as if a single hospital would get all those amazing cases." Cristina said, furiously. They all looked at her. "What? It really pisses me off."

"Yeah as if they get enough free time to go on dates all the time and have sex all around the hospital." The group laughed at Izzie's comment at first and then all went silent. "Oh sorry Mer." They all laughed again.

"Hey, are we forgetting Cristina? Her and Burke were always in the on-call room." Meredith retorted.

"Well, still…the cases." Cristina added.

"Anyone want a drink"? George asked, getting up and walking into the kitchen.

"Yeah." Came a unified response from the lounge.

"Wait, who was that?"

"All of us." Came another response with all three female voices.

"Ok. Do you want any help George? No I'm fine thanks." George muttered to himself and then proceeded to take four beers out of the fridge, balancing them in his arm and he walked back towards the lounge.

598325.doc18/03/07 14:38hrs Imo Wilson (L) L6


	5. Chapter 5

Well this is a really long chapter but hey, its got a lot of detail in it. I'm slowly starting to plant the seeds of an Addisex romance but it might take a while, I don't want Alex to end up the rebound guy Just wrote a cute MerDer scene but that's in the next update so you'll have to wait for that. It looks like Meredith's thing about not being with Derek until he's divorced isn't going too well. There are quite a lot of medical procedures in this chapter and the next one, and everyone one of them is correct just so you think I'm not just making stuff up!!

Anyway, thanks again for the great reviews!!! Hope you enjoy this chapter and the chapter to come which will be up later on today hopefully.

Thanks again.

da

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"Did Burke know you were spending the night with us last night?" Meredith asked as she climbed out of her car, followed by Cristina, Izzie and George.

"I might have mentioned it." Cristina replied. "Its no big deal." Meredith could tell this was all she was going to get out of her friend.

"Ok then." She admitted defeat. The group made their way into the hospital, and to Meredith's horror Addison was just entering the hospital at the same time. She looked exhausted and close to tears and Meredith decided it was best to try and avoid her. She ducked behind Cristina who glanced over at Addison and at once understood what her friend was doing. The group, now including Addison stopped at the elevator and Meredith realised there was no way to hide from the redheaded woman. She kept quiet, hoping that even if Addison knew she was there, she wouldn't try and talk to her. She glanced over at the woman and caught her eye. They looked at each other for a moment before both glancing away. Then to make matters worse Derek sidled up to the group. His smile vanished when he saw Addison leaning dejectedly against the wall, staring at the elevator doors, willing them to open. He was about to make a swift exit when she glanced up and saw him, at the same time that Meredith did. The other interns felt the tension before they saw that Derek had arrived.

"Well this is nice and awkward." Derek stated, shuffling his feet.

"I think I might take the stairs." George's voice said quietly. He slipped out of the group and hurried towards the staircase. Cristina and Izzie exchanged glances before following him.

"We'll just……George wait." They scrambled to get away from the awkward situation. Addison sighed as Meredith shrunk further into a corner. There was silence which was broken as the elevator doors opened with a loud DING. The three collectively let out a breath that they had all been hiding.

"So, everyone all right.?" Derek asked, trying to start a conversation. Their luck had it that the elevator was empty. He looked over at Meredith who nodded, never taking her eyes off the floor. He then looked over at Addison who tried to smile and nod even though it was clear that was the last thing she wanted to do. The doors opened again for the neonatal floor and Addison stepped off, hurrying down the corridor without looking back at the elevator. The doors closed again and Derek let out a sigh.

"I didn't think it would be this hard." He admitted, pushing a hand through his hair. Meredith looked over at him. She hadn't appreciated just how much he had given up for her. Without saying anything she leaned up and kissed him. It was a quick kiss but Derek understood what it meant and he smiled, thanking her. The doors opened again and Meredith stepped out, heading down the corridor towards the locker room where she knew another day waited for her.

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The interns all looked up as Meredith entered the room. She ignored them as she made her way to her locker, pulling out her scrubs and discarding the rest of the clothing into the small space. Cristina was packing her clothes haphazardly into her own locker as she glanced over at Meredith.

"You ok?" She asked, speaking for George and Izzie as well.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Meredith replied, trying to brush it off.

"Oh, maybe the awkward elevator ride…?" George offered, as he clipped his pager to his pants.

"It was fine. You know, like any other elevator ride. Its just an elevator."

"Yeah I bet that's what you said to yourself yesterday." Cristina snorted. Meredith glared at her and was about to open her mouth when Bailey walked in. She looked around the room at her interns.

"Alright people, gather round we've got a busy day today. OR is full and that means we've got a lot of attendings that need interns. Karev, go check in with Dr Montgomery Shepherd." Alex groaned.

"Gynie squad? You gotta be kidding me." With this comment Bailey turned to look at him, raising one eyebrow.

"Do I look like the kind of person who makes jokes?" She growled. Alex shook his head and rushed out of the room. "Right….Yang you're with Dr Burke. O'Malley the chief wants to see you, don't ask me what its about. Stevens you're with Dr Shepherd and that leaves you Grey." Cristina, George and Izzie sensed Bailey wasn't in a good mood and took the opportunity to make themselves scarce and find their various attendings.

"Firstly, let me tell you what a great pleasure it is for me to give you this task today. I will be in surgery most of today, as will all of your fellow interns and most of the attendings. That means there is no one running labs, no one writing post-op notes, no one doing sutures, and you see where I'm going with this. As you took the liberty of giving yourself a _happy _half hour break yesterday you can make up for it by doing all those things." Bailey said, amusement thick in her tone and a slightly smile in her eyes.

_She's loving this way too much. _Meredith thought. She was about to move out of the room when Bailey stopped her.

"Oh and I need you to check on 2112, 2145, 2134, and 2113. 2112 needs a rectal exam and 2145 needs to be checked on every half an hour. Page me if anything changes. Enjoy." Bailey smiled one last time and then left the room, leaving Meredith standing there, feeling extremely pissed off.

_This is why it's a problem sleeping with your boss. _She thought as she scribbled down what Bailey had said and then pulled on her coat, leaving the room behind her.

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"Dr Shepherd, I'm your intern for the day." Alex said, pushing the door open with a bit too much force. It slammed against the wall and snapped Addison out of her thoughts. She quickly wiped her eyes trying to hide the fact that she had been crying. Thankfully, Alex didn't seem to care less about what was going on around him. He looked as though this was the most boring thing in the world to him.

"Right. Good." Addison said, recovering quickly. She stood up and straightened her lab coat, focusing her attention on Alex who seemed to be paying little attention as possible to her and seemed to be reading a poster about drug use during pregnancy instead. "I'm sorry is surgery that boring for you?" Alex looked at her with a lazy gaze.

"No, I'm very happy to be here." He drawled, sarcasm creeping into his voice.

"I'm sure Dr Bailey can find something more interesting for you to do if this is boring you." She said again. Of all the people Bailey could have sent her for the day she sent the insensitive, cocky intern Alex Karev. She'd seen his type before, in fact she'd slept with his type before in the shape of Mark Sloan, and she knew that all he cared about was the glory.

"I'm sorry, its just I'm a surgeon and this is…. the gynie squad." He yawned almost to emphasise his point.

"Oh, so I guess you don't want to be in on the abdominal hysterectomy this morning then. That's fine, I can find another intern willing to help." Alex perked up at the thought of a surgery like this, as she knew he would. He stuttered for a while unsure of how to backtrack on his previous words.

"I'll do it." Was all he could think of in the end.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was you're choice to make, Karev." Addison said, writing some notes in a chart that she was holding.

"I'm sorry Dr Shepherd, I mean, I would be honoured to be included in the surgery if you're still have me." He replied, sounding genuine. Addison looked at him over the top of her glasses and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not a fan of sarcasm, Karev." She said pointedly.

"I wasn't being sarcastic, I swear." He replied, desperate to get in on a surgery, even if it was this particular field.

"I know. I was setting some rules." Addison retorted coolly. She handed the chart over to Karev. "Read through this and get some labs done, and then prep her for surgery." She ordered, walking out of the room. Alex stared after her.

_She is hot. _He thought to himself as his eyes followed her moving down the corridor, her lab coat billowing out. He flipped open the file, scanned over it and then made his way to the patients room.

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"Chief, you wanted to see me?" George said, knocking lightly on the Chief's door and stepping in. Richard looked up as he walked in and smiled warmly.

"Ah O'Malley, yeah. I got a kid downstairs swallowed some of small toy, I don't know, its stuck in one his bronchus and needs to be removed immediately. As in, I need him in the OR within the half hour. I want you to prep him and then page me. If you want a chance to shine O'Malley you better take it now. I'm giving you the opportunity to go in there and remove the toy." He stared intently at George, trying to gauge his reaction. But all he saw was an intern standing there stuttering.

"O'Malley!" The Chief said loudly.

"Yes, sir. I would…that's an amazing opportunity sir I'll get to it right away." He was about to leave when the Chief called him again.

"O'Malley – be nice, its my nephew down there." He turned back to his work. George was wide eyed. He gulped and then moved away from the Chief's room.

"Oh God Oh God Oh God. I'm going to kill the Chief's nephew." He muttered to himself as he wandered down the corridor. He walked straight past Meredith who was busy reading through lab results. She looked up as George wandered past, muttering to himself.

"George? Are you alright?" She called after him. He stopped and turned back to her, his mouth still wide open. He came close to her and leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"The Chief is letting me do a bronchoscopy." He whispered, looking around to see who was listening.

"That's awesome, George, well done."

"No! No! Not well done, because the patient is the Chief's nephew. What if I mess it up and kill his nephew?" He was panicking now.

"George, you know the risks are minimal with that type of surgery. The most you'll do is damage the windpipe, the bronchus or the lungs and its just a case of having another surgery to fix that. Its not like you have a scalpel either." She smiled at him, trying to reassure her. "And you've got a car, if you kill him you can just drive to the other side of the country."

"Thanks. You were a great help." George groaned as he walked away. Meredith laughed after him until she saw Bailey leaning against a wall, an eyebrow raised and looking pissed off. She stopped laughing and went back to work.

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"Hey 007" Cristina called as she sat down at the lunch table with her tray of food. Meredith laughed, coughing on her salad whilst George looked at Cristina, appalled.

"What? What did you just call me?" He gasped, barely able to control his nervousness.

"007. Heard you were planning on killing a patient today." She replied.

"If you hate the program that much Georgie just quit." Alex said, sitting down between George and Meredith, who rolled her eyes as she said that.

"I'm not planning on killing a patient…. where did you…..?………Meredith?" He yelled angrily.

"What? I was just talking to her and mentioned that you thought you might kill the Chief's nephew today." Meredith offered as an excuse. Alex took a huge bite out of his sandwich and then waved it around in the air, gesturing to make his point.

"Now…I wouldn't recommend that O'Malley." He said with his mouth full of bread, lettuce and chicken.

"Yes, thank you Alex." George answered sarcastically. Alex shrugged and carried on eating; ignoring the disgusted look that Cristina threw at him. George was just about to speak again when Izzie approached the table, dropping her tray on the table and collapsing into the chair.

"What are we talking about?" She asked, pulling the lid off her own salad.

"George is going to kill a kid today." Alex said, grinning at George.

"What?" Izzie looked truly shocked at the idea.

"I'm not killing anyone. I'm doing a bronchoscopy…oh my god I was meant to be there 15 minutes ago." He jumped up from the chair, almost knocking the table over and rushed off to the patient's room.

"He's already halfway there to killing the kid." Alex grinned to himself, taking another huge mouthful from his sandwich.

"Go away." Cristina said.

"As an American citizen I have the freedom of speech and the freedom to sit wherever I want baby. God bless America." He grinned at the three women surrounding him who all grimaced and stood up immediately, walking away from their table and Alex who didn't seem to care less that he'd just been abandoned.

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Izzie walked into her patient's room to find Derek already in there, explaining the surgery and possible risks to the patient.

"Ah Dr Stevens." Derek said as he noticed her enter the room. "Mr Jeffries this is Dr Stevens, a fine intern on our surgical floor here. How's he presenting?" He asked her. Izzie walked over to the patient's bed.

"Head injury occurred just under a week ago. CT shows a large amount of bloody seeping into the cranial area. Pressure is increasing and swelling has been identified and patient is losing motor functions. Has demonstrated memory loss. Labs are clear for infection."

"Great thanks." Derek smiled at her and turned back to the patient. "Right, I've told you all about what we're going to be doing this afternoon. Dr Stevens here will prep you and answer any further questions you have. I'll see you at noon Mr Jeffries." Derek left leaving Izzie alone with the patient.

"Is my wife here? I think she said she'd come…I think….I have a wedding ring on so I must be married right?" Mr Jeffries asked. It was clear he was panicking slightly at the fact that he could barely recall any of the most important facts of his life.

"Don't worry Mr Jeffries, we're going to fix this and you're memory will be back. I can call someone if you want. Do you have an address book or something?" Izzie asked, making a quick note in the file. The memory loss seemed to have progressed since rounds this morning, never a good sign.

"I….I uh…I think there might be one in the pocket of my jacket. I…I don't know. I can't remember anything." He was getting more and more distressed, his pulse quickening. Izzie dropped the file onto a desk.

"Mr Jeffries I need you to calm down for me ok? It's important that you just calm down. Can you remember Dr Shepherd? He told you about you're surgery a couple of minutes ago." Mr Jeffries pulse was getting even quicker now and he was attempting to get out of the hospital bed.

"I've got to get out of here. I need to know." He was almost screaming now.

"Mr Jeffries please." Izzie urged, attempting to hold him down to the bed. "I need some help in here!" She shouted out to the corridor. A nurse rushed in just as Mr Jeffries crashed.

"Shit." Izzie cursed. She reached across to the opposite wall and punched the code button. She rushed back to Mr Jeffries, pushing his hospital gown off his chest and punching down hard on the area above the chest. The monitor was still flat lining. The crash team rushed in and surrounded the bed.

"Alright, bag him, Push epi and atropine." Izzie shouted, and watched as the nurses went about doing their job.

"No change." Izzie stood shocked; she didn't know what to do. One minute he'd been fine and the next he was dying.

"Ok, um…push another epi and someone page Dr Shepherd." She looked up at the monitor but there was still nothing. "Ok, that's not working. Ok, give me the defibrillators." The nurse pushed the cart towards her and Izzie picked up the paddles, waiting for the gel to be layered onto them.

"Ok, charge pulse of 200." The nurse did as she was told.

"Charged. Clear." Izzie pressed the paddles to the man's chest, delivering the charge. "Still defib." The nurse informed.

"Ok, charge again to 300." Izzie administered the second charge and looked relieved when she saw his BP register.

"I see sinus rhythm and blood pressures coming back up." Izzie breathed a sigh of relief as Derek bounded into the room.

"What happened?" He asked, directing the question at Izzie.

"He started to get distressed about the memory loss, he was losing a lot of memory at a fast rate and then he crashed. I pushed two of epi and administered atropine and he seems to be steady now." She answered him, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Right, call down to OR we need to get him into surgery as soon as possible." She did as he said and left the room to call the OR.

> 


End file.
